Treatment of fricatives. Hardening. Rhotacism. Voicing and Devoicing

The PG voiced [ð] due to Verner’s Law always changed into [d]. [v] into [b], [γ] into [g] initially and after nasals. This process is called hardening.

e.g. O Icel. rauðr OE rēad (NE red)

PG [z] underwent a phonetic modification through the stage of [] into [r] and thus became a sonorant which ultimately merged with the older IE [r]. This process is called rhotacism.

e.g. Gt maiza OE māra (NE more)

The PG set of voiceless fricatives [f], [θ], [h], [s] and also voiced fricatives which had not turned into plosives [v],[j] were subjected to the process of voicing and devoicing. They became and remained voiced between:

They remained or became voiceless:

e.g. cweðan [ð] – between vowels

cwæð [θ] – at the end of the word

In all WG languages most consonants were lengthened after a short vowel before [ j ]. It is known as WG gemination or doubling of consonants and as a result long consonants are indicated by means of double letters.

e.g. sætjan → settan (set)

During this process sound [ j ] was lost so that the long consonants ceased to be phonetically conditioned. When the long and short consonants began to occur in identical phonetic conditions especially between vowels their distinction became phonemic.

Velar consonants split into 2 sets of sounds – palatal and velar, which led to the growth of new phonemes. The velar consonants [k, g, h, γ] were palatalized before a front vowel and sometimes after a front vowel, unless followed by a back vowel

e.g. cild →[k’] (child)

The difference between palatal and velar consonants became phonetic when velar and palatal consonants began to occur in similar phonetic conditions. The difference between them grew and by the end of the period the palatal consonants developed into sibilants and affricates [k’ ] > [tς], [ g] >[d]